Thoughts on publishing – vanity & all

Take notes. This is a long one but worth it. During five years of working for Blurb I’ve visited four continents and listened to a myriad of publishing stories. Mostly bad. I wish this were not the case, but the truth is often harsher than we want to believe. Getting published is one of the definitive statements in photography, but how and why that happens is an ever-changing process, and one that is loaded with misinformation, misunderstanding and poor financial deals. There is also the burden of tradition, and with this burden comes a bevy of other pitfalls that often times lead photographers into situations that are impossible to leave unscathed. It doesn’t have to be this way, and there are plenty of examples of photographers who have gone on their own and made incredible publications outside of traditional channels.

But first let me address something else. Another myth if you will. Vanity publishing. If you are going to publish a book about your work as an artist you are vanity publishing. Period. End of story. If I hear another traditional publisher or high brow person aim the “vanity publishing” moniker at someone who does their own book I’m going to vomit. If you think your work is amazing and you are going to publish a book of your work because you want to be more well known as an artist….YOU my friend are vanity publishing even if you are doing the book with a traditional publisher. “Vanity publishing,” historically, has been viewed as a negative jab at those deemed “unworthy” who basically couldn’t find a deal so they had to do the book on their own. But for some unknown reason, a photographer PAYING a publisher to do their book, something that happens on a routine basis, somehow escapes this title. It’s total BS. And, in some ways going traditional is more expensive, time consuming and an easy way to lose control of your book. Trust me, I’ve had numerous conversations with photographers who said things like “This isn’t working,” or “I’ve never made a penny,” and even “My books are rotting in my garage.” For example, I’ve recently had conversations about publishing deals with a variety of different people. The least expensive proposition I heard was just under $20,000 and that was just the upfront cost. Others were in the $30,000 to $50,000 range and one faculty member at an art school told me that he had spent $100,000 on his books and “Hadn’t made many sales or recouped any money.” Often times when I tell these stories I’m met with incredulous looks, and people also like to throw out rare success stories of books that do incredibly well. Luckily, these situations do happen, often with story driven books, not artist driven, and are books that cover popular culture, celebrities, etc.. However, there are some juicy examples outside these bounds that I want to cover in a minute, and these books, I feel, are the future of photobook publishing.

Before we go further let me explains something else. I love traditionally published books. The first image here is PART of my photobook collection. I have somewhere near 400 books, and this does not include the small run art books, zines, handmade books, etc. Traditional publishing, when the deal is right, can offer things that are fantastic. In fact, I’ve got friends who have done multiple books, never spent a penny up front, published the exact book they wanted, sold out over time and actually made a little money. It’s possible, so remember this when approaching publishers. And let me say this, these books were NOT popular subject matter. They were somewhat obscure, and would have been rejected readily by many other publishers. Do your research when shopping your work because each publisher has distinct needs and styles.

Another thing you need to know is all of this requires more time and energy than you can possibly imagine, whether you are doing your book with a publisher or on your own. Successful publishing requires many things. In addition to a twelve to eighteen month publishing process(traditional publishing) from the time of the acquisition you also need GREAT WORK, MONEY, PR, an audience, design, editing, decisions on materials, print runs, decisions about offset vs print-on-demand, format choices, possible essays, price points, exhibitions, distribution, reviews, etc. etc. In the best case scenarios the publisher helps with many of these things, but again, in the modern publishing model the stories I hear are mostly of the artist being on the hook for most of what I listed above. I get it. The financial world of old is not the financial world of now, so publishers need to make decisions differently than they once did. Say for example a publisher is doing a pop culture book that looks like it will sell hundreds of thousands of copies and prove profitable. In the old days perhaps some of the revenue would be set aside for a more “boutique” project that is important but perhaps won’t sell or make money at any real level. These days this is happening less and less. As one publisher said to me, “We are only publishing slam dunks.”   This does not mean the work isn’t good. It just means the work might not get published….unless the artist goes on their own.

There are many ways of going on your own. There are publishers you just pay for a book. You get their imprint, it kinda looks like you were “chosen” and got published, but in reality you just paid for a book. Sometimes this works well, and the books can look nice. You can also hire a publishing service that you pay for editing, design, printing, etc, and then you are on the hook for the rest of the pieces. These places are becoming more accepted due to the realities limiting the major publishers, which is good to see. I’ve heard both good and bad about this path, so it’s worth investigating. The next option is what I find most interesting. Self-publishing on your own. Wait, I can hear the groans. “You work for Blurb, of course you are going to say that.” True, I work for Blurb, but when I say “Self-publish on your own,” I’m not just talking about Blurb. And what intrigues me about this path is the idea of a creative, sustainable path for photographers. And when I say “sustainable” I don’t mean you are doing to make enough money off this process to survive. In fact, you might not make any money at all, but the process won’t BREAK your business, or break you in the process. Because let me say this. Historically, illustrated books do not sell well. They never have, and if I had to guess I would say they never will. Heck, most non-illustrated books don’t sell well either. Each year there are a handful of blockbuster books and then you have the rest of the books. The number of people making their living from writing or doing photography books is so incredibly small, but this should not be a deterrent from doing a book because a book is so much more than sales.

Books make you a better photographer simply by forcing you to spend critical thought on your work. Do you have enough? Have you REALLY done an edit? What is your cover image? What sequence does the work really require? This goes on and on. It’s one reason I make so many books, many of which I never release to the public. I use the book as a guide, as a reality check and as a way of getting my head around things. Of the 200+ books I’ve made with Blurb alone, there are about four I would release to you and say “Hey, this is worth a look.” This does not include all the books I made and sold to clients, over one hundred. Those were fine, for the client, but not ready for public consumption. Is a publisher going to allow you this luxury? Of course not, not their job or business model, but you can surely do it on your own. Two days ago I spend an hour on the phone with a photographer I really like. He’s had a great career and is trying to make sense of it in book form. He’s got numerous styles and types of work made over a thirty-year career. “JUST MAKE SOMETHING,” I said. The idea of taking what he has and turning it into the PERFECT book, right off the bat, is incredibly unlikely. I told him to choose magazine format, and Magcloud Digest and just do a simple, small, inexpensive book to see what it FEELS like to do your own publication. Even if no other human being sees this book it’s a wonderful learning tool and the only way you do this is on your own. (We since did this together, a 24-page Magcloud Digest.)

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One of the biggest mistakes I see and hear on a weekly basis is photographers trying to turn Blurb into a traditional publisher. The story typically goes “I shopped my book to forty publishers and got slammed, so I’m going to do this on my own and I want to use Blurb.” You know what I tell them? “It won’t work.” I say this because their brain is stuck on a model that is so entirely different from what a platform like Blurb offers there is no way it will work for their needs. The smart way to use a self-publishing platform is to use it in a way you would never be able to use a traditional publisher. The classic monograph is getting harder and harder to sell, so if you are coming with uber traditional beliefs and uber traditional needs you might not be happy on your own. But if you want to work fluidly, create multiple publications, in all sorts of different formats and run sizes, then self-publishing might just be for you. Also, keep shopping your work. I know a photographer in LA who has done twelve traditional books in fifteen years, and the first book that got her rolling was turned down by forty publishers, but the 41st not only published her book but also funded her second. It’s not personal, it’s business.

Photographers in the Internet Age have a direct connection to a global audience. I don’t mean via social media. That can help, surely, but what I mean is photographers have the ability to create content, put it out in the world, wait for people to respond and then create a relationship with those people. Instead of waiting for a middleman to direct your work to their audience you are going direct on your own. This isn’t easy. Never has been, but at least today we have the internet to assist. I have a friend with 12,000 people in his email database. Yep. He doesn’t sell books, he sells other goods, but when he does a newsletter that says “Hey, here is my new thingy, and there are only going to be 50 of them,” they SELL and sell fast. He’s not waiting for a retailer to believe in his product, take a significant percentage of his profit, force him into a contract,etc. Nope, he just goes direct. Photographers can, and in my opinion, should be doing the same.

I have a friend who has done three books in three years, all self-published. I’ve given him grief over how much time he’s spend doing these books, and that as a photographer in his prime he SHOULD be in the field, every single day, making new work, but overall he’s accomplished something remarkable. Not only has he got three books, but he’s got three books that are HIS. I can almost guarantee he would have ever been able to do ANY of these books with a traditional publisher. The story is too centric to ONE place. The audience too small, the work too edgy. And yet this story NEEDED to be told and NEEDED to be contained as legacy in print form. They are historical documents with his fingerprints all over them. He does a combination of online sales and also uses local bookstores that sell his products. Has he gotten rich? Nope. Has he broken even? Nope. Did he sell out? Nope. Does it matter? Nope. He sells books, and as a documentary photographer he just cemented his legacy as someone who went above and beyond in documenting the community in which he lives. OH, and let me say this. The books are beautiful, and range in size and shape. These were NOT done with Blurb. Two were done both offset in China and one was printed locally.

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Another name that keeps popping up on my radar is a Peter Turnley. Now, I’ve met Peter a few times, but don’t know him well, so I don’t want you to think I have any inside line on what he’s doing specifically, but if I understand it he’s self-publishing. Okay wait, I just did a little research and found this on the Leica Camera blog. I didn’t plan this, but what he says directly relates to what I said above. Hey, happy accidents!

Q: What about the medium of a book drew you to publishing “French Kiss-A Love Letter to Paris?” And do you feel it achieved everything you set out to?

A: My latest book, “French Kiss-A Love Letter to Paris”, is the seventh book I’ve published and it has been far and away the most exciting publishing experience to date. I self-published this book and it can be purchased uniquely from my website. This deluxe first edition book that comes with a slip case, was beautifully printed and designed, and has now sold more than 3,000 copies in the first year. It has been a major success and I receive daily messages of appreciation about this book from all over the world. I think one of the most exciting aspects of the life of a photographer today is the opportunity to build a community of people worldwide with whom we can share our work. I have thousands of people that follow my photographs and writings on Facebook each day, and also teach workshops worldwide on street photography and have now a group of over 1,000 alumni of my workshops. All of this, the people I interact with on social media, the people that follow my books, and exhibitions, publications, newsletter and workshops, offer me a great source of inspiration.

And finally, nothing stated above is a guarantee. Nothing. You might do all of these things and your book doesn’t sell. This holds true for the known and unknown alike. How do I know this? Because I’ve sat in homes, studios and garages with some of the major players having this very same conversation. But does this mean you don’t try? Hell no. Does this mean you don’t take risks and chances and publish something you believe in? Hell no. You always move forward. You always try.